Syrian Civil War

Turkey and the United States have agreed on the outlines of a plan to rout the Islamic State group from a strip of Syrian territory along the Turkish border — a plan that opens the possibility of a safe haven for tens of thousands of displaced Syrians but one that also sets up a potential conflict with U.S.-backed Syrian Kurdish forces in the area. The move further embroils Turkey, a key NATO ally, in Syria's civil war, and also catapults it into a front-line position in the global war against IS. A senior Obama administration official said Monday that U.S. discussions with Turkey about an IS-free zone focused on a 68-mile stretch still under IS control. The U.S. has been...

Related "Syrian Civil War" Articles

Turkey and the United States have agreed on the outlines of a plan to rout the Islamic State group from a strip of Syrian territory along the Turkish border — a plan that opens the possibility of a safe haven for tens of thousands of displaced Syrians but...

The United States and Turkey are finalizing plans for a military campaign to push the Islamic State group out of a strip of Syrian territory along the Turkish border, a move that would further embroil Turkey in Syria's civil war and set up a potential...

In his first public address in a year, embattled Syrian President Bashar Assad vowed Sunday to win his country's long-running civil war while acknowledging his troops had lost territory to rebel forces and were running short on manpower. Assad's speech,...

Syrian President Bashar Assad delivered a sober assessment of the state of his forces on Sunday, acknowledging a manpower shortage and conceding troop withdrawals from some areas, but asserting that the military was not facing collapse.
The president...

In his first public address in a year, embattled Syrian President Bashar Assad vowed Sunday to win his country's long-running civil war while acknowledging his troops had lost territory to rebel forces and were running short on manpower.
Assad's...

Syria's two main political opposition groups agreed on Thursday on a unified "roadmap" for a political solution to the country's long-running civil war, representatives of the groups said. The two parties have been trying for years to reach a...

The nuclear deal with Iran was met with a profound wariness in the Arab world, where concerns are widespread that the easing of its international isolation could tip the already bloody contest for power in the region toward Shiite-led Tehran. Arab...

President Obama talks every day about defeating the Islamic State militants, but advisors say one option never surfaces for serious consideration – bringing the U.S. military in more directly to save the fledgling Iraqi security forces from their...

WASHINGTON Seated on a dais above thousands of cheering loyalists and the country's elite, Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei restated a key tenet of his late predecessor and the leader of the 1979 Islamic Revolution: relentless, uncompromising...

A series of checkpoints and barriers cobbled together from tumbleweeds, discarded furniture and assorted urban detritus mark the path to one of the world's most storied sites: Aleppo's ancient covered market, the heart of the Old City.
Much of the...

Eleven months after President Obama announced plans to arm opposition fighters to confront Islamic State militants in war-torn Syria, the $500-million program to train a proxy force has yet to begin, raising questions about its viability and...

Israel's military said Sunday it launched an airstrike on its border with Syria after spotting militants carrying a bomb in the Israeli-held Golan Heights.
The military said it carried out the strike after troops saw "a group of armed...

Israeli warplanes struck military targets in Syria early Saturday, according to media reports that were not confirmed by Israeli or Syrian officials.
According to Arab media and pro-opposition sources in Syria, the strikes targeted several bases...

The meltdown in Yemen is pushing the Middle East dangerously closer toward the wider regional conflagration many long have feared would arise from the chaos unleashed by the Arab Spring revolts.
What began as a peaceful struggle to unseat a Tunisian...

A Pentagon official confirmed the U.S. military lost contact with an unarmed Predator drone Tuesday while it was flying above northwestern Syria, but could not corroborate reports that the aircraft was shot down by President Bashar Assad’s air...

Kurdish authorities in Iraq said Saturday they have evidence that the Islamic State group used chlorine gas as a chemical weapon against peshmerga fighters, the latest alleged atrocity carried out by the extremist organization now under attack in Tikrit....

A rebel shelling barrage targeting Damascus, Syria, early Thursday left at least five people dead and scores wounded, according to government and opposition accounts.
The attack was the second major rocket and mortar strike in recent weeks on the...

Jordanian F-16 warplanes struck Islamic State targets Thursday in retaliation for the gruesome slaying of a military pilot, officials said, signaling an apparent escalation of the kingdom's role in the U.S.-led coalition against the militant group.“The...

Saudi Arabia's King Abdullah, the powerful U.S. ally who fought against al-Qaida and sought to modernize the ultraconservative Muslim kingdom, including by nudging open greater opportunities for women, has died. He was 90.More than his guarded and...

One is an independent journalist who traveled to the Middle East apparently in pursuit of his next big story. The other is seemingly a man adrift, on a quest for a new life after becoming homeless in Japan.
The two Japanese men threatened with death by...